


I'm Fine

by queenofthemoment



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Hex Bags, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Sibling Love, Siblings, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 20:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13554570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofthemoment/pseuds/queenofthemoment
Summary: This story takes place after Shattered as Danielle gets back into hunting.





	I'm Fine

“Dean I swear if you don’t turn that off right now I’m going to rip out the cassette and shove it down your throat!” Danielle yelled over the music blasting from the impala’s speakers. Sam reached for the cassette to try and avoid any violence between his older siblings but retracted his hand when it was met with a sharp slap.  
“Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole. And back seat has no say in anything except snacks. And you are dropping the ball there.” Dean turned up the music.  
Danielle groaned as the beginning to Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song began for the fifth time since they’d left for their hunt. She caught Sam giving her a sympathetic look, “Dean maybe just turn it down?” Sam reasoned  
Dean glanced in the rearview mirror as his sister glared at him from the back seat, “And maybe change it to a different band?” Danielle snapped.  
“What’s better than Led Zeppelin?” Dean turned the music down to an acceptable level.  
Danielle folded her arms up over the bench seat and leaned between her brothers, “Aerosmith. Bad Company. Boston. CCR. Foreigner.”  
“Nahh” he pulled the cassette, “Sammy pass me ACDC.”  
Sam reluctantly handed his brother the new cassette under a scornful look of betrayal from his sister.   
“Pleaseeee just play something with less screaming.”  
“Dani, you don’t appreciate the classics.” Dean switched the tapes with one hand.  
Danielle closed her eyes as she rubbed her temples, “Sam how much further?  
“Few more hours.”  
Her groan was drowned out by Dean singing along to You Shook Me All Night Long.   
…………………………..

“Just once I’d love to come across a motel that has three beds. Just once.” Danielle threw her bag on the first bed.   
“What do you think you’re doing?” Dean shooed her with his hand. “This is my bed.”  
“Dean there isn’t a couch. “ Danielle spread her arms gesturing to the dirty motel room “And I’m not sleeping on the floor.”  
“Share with Sammy.”  
“He kicks!”  
“Oh come on he’s probably grown out of it. Haven’t you Sam?”  
“Not really…Jessica used to complain about it.” Sam stated embarrassed.  
Danielle placed her hands on her hips and stared her brother down. “You never stay on your side, Dani!” Dean threw his arms up dramatically  
“I like to sleep in the middle! And maybe if you two didn’t keep it so damn cold in the rooms I’d stay on my side.”  
“Put on a sweatshirt!”  
“I do!”  
“And don’t even get me started on your feet. It’s like someone throwing ice cubes on you in the middle of the night.”  
“My feet get cold!”  
“Put on socks.”  
“I’ve told you I don’t like sleeping with socks on and my feet still feel cold with them on anyway—“  
“That’s it! I’m sleeping in the impala tonight.” Dean jerked a change of clothes from his duffle bag and headed to the bathroom.  
“It’s thirty degrees outside you can’t sleep in the car you’ll freeze to death.”  
“Not sharing with you anymore, Dani.” Dean slammed the bathroom door shut.  
Danielle grabbed her duffle and threw it on the bed next to Sam’s. “You kick me I’m pushing you out of the bed.” She threatened pointing a finger at him.   
Sam shook his head with a half smile playing on his lips. “I don’t think you can still do that.” Sam watched as she pulled clothes from her duffle and laid them neatly on the bed, “What’s going on with you two?”  
“What do you mean?” she yanked her small toiletry bag free.  
“You two have been at each other a lot lately.” Sam sat on the bed looking at her like a hurt child.  
“Sam we butt heads all the time. We’re fine.”  
Sam eyed his sister carefully as she toyed with her ring, “Not like this.” She averted her eyes blinking rapidly, “Dani, are you okay?  
“I thought it’d be easy…that’d I’d be able to slip back into the life with no problems…Guess I got nostalgic for the crappy diner food, the disgusting motels, killing monsters all the time and being on the road all day. I just miss going to my place at the end of the day…having a place to call home…someone who loves me.”   
“You’re missing Jason.”   
“Him…being a nurse, friends, my own bed. I miss all of it. And to add on I’m not as sharp as I used to be and Dean…. Dean is just driving me crazy…the awful jokes, the food, the music.”  
“You always loved when he’d blast music.”  
“I know…it’s not that...it’s just….I feel like he’s expecting me to be fine. Fine when a guy tries to flirt with me at the bar, fine patching you guys up after a hunt, fine with being one of the guys-“ Danielle stopped her rant as the door to the bathroom opened.  
Dean paused looking between his younger siblings. It didn’t take a genius to tell they’d been having a serious conversation. Sam’s eyes were soft and Danielle looked distraught, “What’s going on?” Dean’s eyes darted from one sibling to the other as they stared at him and he immediately felt himself going into fight mode.  
Danielle plucked up her things and moved towards him, “Nothing everything is fine.” She pushed by him, closing the door in his face.   
Dean clenched his jaw. Turning he threw his wadded clothes on the bed and began pacing the room. Hearing the water to the shower turn on he turned to Sam for an explanation.   
“Well?”  
“Well what?” Sam opened his laptop casually.  
Dean clenched and unclenched his fists and pointed back to the bathroom door, “I want to know what’s with little miss sunshine in there. She told you something!”  
“Dean-,” Sam sighed  
“Don’t tell me she’s fine. Everything is off about her. She’s short tempered, barely sleeps….going to get herself killed out there. We’ve had to save her ass more than once.”  
“She’s saved us too.”  
“Don’t use reason on me! Hasn’t been herself Sam and you know it. Her game is off.”  
“You’re being way too hard on her.”  
“Really? Sam I’m not the touchy feely type but I haven’t been that bad. Tell you what she needs to get laid. Get rid of some of that stress. If she’d take that ring off-”  
“Dean she just lost her fiancé!”  
“You lost Jess and you’ve-“  
“She’s not me. I can’t believe you right now. You’ve always put her first and now-“  
“Can’t baby her Sam.”  
“It’s not babying Dean it’s being there for her. You’re expecting her to just be fine with everything. This life sucks. She’s gone from having a career, a man who loves her and a future in a home…that’s something she’s always wanted. That was ripped away from her and you’re expecting her to just get back into hunting like nothing ever happened!”  
Dean picked at the hem of his shirt, “What am I supposed to do?”  
“Ease up. Man for someone who knows her so well you suck at this.”   
Dean ran a hand over his tired face, “You know when you came back it felt so much like it used to. Then when Dani came with us I thought everything was going to be the same…. and it isn’t.”  
Sam looked at Dean surprised to hear his older brother admit that, “I don’t think it’s ever going to be the same.”

 

“That was a dead end.” Dean unbuttoned his jacket as they left the town’s police station.  
“People keep dying in the same apartment complex. One minute they’re perfectly healthy and the next they’re choking on their own blood; according to them there’s no case…just people dying.” Sam sifted through the copies of files from the case.  
“I always said cops were idiots.”   
“They just don’t know about the supernatural. And make sure you don’t say that around Dani.”   
Dean swung open the door to the driver’s seat “Think it could be a ghost?”   
“I don’t know…we’ll see what Dani says about the bodies at the coroners office. Maybe that’ll give us a lead.”   
“After we pick her up we can go to the apartments and run EMF.” Dean brought the impala roaring to life and pealed out of the parking lot.

 

Danielle exited the coroner’s office and made her way to her brothers waiting for her in the parking lot. She slid into the back seat of the impala, “I should have become a coroner. Civilian doctors come up with ridiculous theories for when they cross something that they can’t understand. Seven victims, nothing in common except that they lived in the same apartment building and their insides turned to soup.”  
“Some of the witnesses said that they started coughing up blood then collapsed.” Sam turned over his shoulder to update his sister on the info they gathered from the Sheriff’s Office.  
“Bodies appeared to be perfectly fine on the outside. Once cut open their whole insides were melted into one big mush.” Dean wrinkled his nose as his sister spoke, “Could be a ghost?”  
“That’s what we’re thinking.” 

 

“EMF is a bust.” Dean shoved the detector into this jacket pocket as he scanned the apartment for an explanation. Pulling out his phone he speed dialed Sam, “Find anything?”  
“Look what I found.” Danielle ran into the living room and dangled a small brown object in front of him then snatched away the cell phone. “Sammy I just found a hex bag under the victim’s bed. Check for one in the apartment you’re in. I bet you we’re going to find a lot more of these.” As she talked to Sam she heard Dean muttering about witches; she snapped the phone shut and pressed it back into Dean’s hand, an expression of shocked annoyance still rested on his face. “It’ll go faster if we spilt up. I’ll take the last three apartments on the list and meet you and Sam in the parking lot.”  
Dean grabbed her upper arm in a vice grip, “I don’t think so. You’re sticking with me, kiddo.”  
“I’m not a thirteen year old kid anymore Dean. I’ve hunted just as long as you have.” Danielle protested as he dragged her along to the next apartment.   
“I didn’t take six years off.”  
She ripped her arm away from him and stood toe to toe, “Why are you still on that? Are you still pissed that I left? I’m sorry Dean! I’ve said it over and over again and I don’t know what you want from me.”  
“I want you to get your head in the game. Every hunt we’ve been on you’ve been a million miles away.”  
“De, I’m trying-“  
“Well stop trying, Dani! Just do it….get it together.”  
Danielle gritted her teeth, “When we were little I knew I could come to about anything. I’d be so freaked out by what we saw….that time you and Dad came home torn up by werewolves….after I stitched him up he told me I did good and passed out. Never talked about it again…even when I’d have nightmares of werewolves coming in and tearing him, you and Sammy to shreds. It’s like he expected me to fine after seeing you guys like that….you’ve never been anything like Dad but these past few months I think you’re the spitting image of him.”  
Dean felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He remembered that winter coming home after the hunt. When they came in her face turned so white he thought she was going to pass out. Despite her fingers trembling the whole time she patched them up perfectly all while making sure Sammy never saw anything. After his Dad passed out and he wanted nothing more than to do the same he held her as she sobbed late into the night. He dealt with the nightmares and anxious glances that went on for months after- while his father failed to notice her suffering.   
“Dani, you’ve-“  
“I’ve what? Not been the same? No Dean I’m not. I watched a vamp kill my fiancé and I couldn’t do anything to save him. So stop expecting me to be fine. And I’ve been hunting alone the past six years. I’m not going to screw everything up and get myself killed.” She turned on her heel and stormed off. Dean resisted the urge to put a hole in the wall. 

 

“Where’s Dani?” Sam ducked his head to check the backseat of the impala only to straighten up to see a worried expression cross his brother’s face.  
“Damn it…she didn’t join up with you?”  
“You said something to her didn’t you?”   
Dean sighed, “Wouldn’t let her go on her own and she blew up at me.”   
Sam glared across the roof of the impala while digging through his pocket for his cell. As it rang he prayed silently that she’d pick up.   
It immediately went to voicemail. “Damnit, Dean she’s not answering.”  
“Alright don’t freak out. We’ll check the motel and see if she’s there. After that we’ll spilt up and look for her.”  
“Fine.” Sam slid into the car.  
Just like old times Dean thought. Anytime he and Danielle fought Sam took her side, the theory that Sam was really a girl still played in his head at times. But in this case Sam was right and so was Danielle. Just like their father he expected her to go on like nothing happened. Screeching out of the parking lot Dean mulled over ways to make it up to her but nothing seemed to come to mind. He’d never felt more disconnected from his sister than he had in the past few months, she’d changed so much and apart of him was beginning to realize maybe he changed too. 

Sam hit the pavement before Dean brought the impala to a stop. Pulling the key from the ignition Dean ran into the room. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light Dean suddenly felt like he was ten years old again having to tell his father he lost his little sister. They’d all started at a new school and he’d been stuck in detention for punching the kid who’d been pulling her hair during recess. Unable to find her after detention he hoped she’d wandered back to the motel. After picking up Sam he felt dread wash over him when he came into the motel room, without Dani, to his father waiting expectantly.   
“Sam, check the library, hospital, coffee shops….any building you think she’d go in.” Dean ran his hand over his face. “I’ll look everywhere else. Meet back here.”

 

Danielle stood at the foot of her bed clicking witch killing bullets into her clip, turning she saw her brothers enter the room. Both looked worried but as Sam’s face melted into relief Dean’s changed to anger.  
“I found the witch. At first I couldn’t find anything they had in common-“  
“Where the hell have you been?” Dean boomed  
Danielle slid the clip into its chamber “I went back to the apartment. Turns out they each visited a shop in town the day before they died. Found a receipt in the wastebasket for a charm store. Checked it out and I think there is real magic in there.”   
“Look I get you think you’re the Lone Ranger or something but even he had Tonto. You can’t go in without back up!” Dean wished for the millionth time in his life he could knock sense into her.   
“Dean is right, Dani…you should have waited for us.”  
“Why? So you two can try to hold my hand like always? I can hold my own I don’t always need to have Dean on my six.”  
“What are you trying to prove Dani? That you can hunt alone?”  
“No.”  
“Then what?”  
“That you can trust me to get job done without you or Dad breathing down my neck. I can clear a floor or check a room without you right next to me.”  
“Point of having other hunters with you is so you don’t have to.”  
Danielle chewed her lip. She could beat Dean over the head with the fact that she wanted him to treat her like an equal as a hunter, like how he treated Sam, but it’d never sink in. He took watching out for his younger sibling to a whole new level with her, sometimes it was endearing and other times it was irritating.   
“Let’s just get this hunt over with.” She shoved past him.

 

Dean tucked his second gun into the back of his pants, “Alright Sammy you head in through the front. I’ve got the back, Dani you’re on me.” He waited for her to argue but her only response was clicking off the safety.   
As Dean moved into position he listened to the soft footfall of his sister behind him. Placing himself beside the doorframe he motioned to Dani that she’d be going in first. Counting to three he kicked in the door and Dani spun into the room. After she cleared the first room Dean moved into the lead. Once the back of the shop was cleared the three met in the front of the shop.  
Sifting through merchandise Sam shook his head, “Dani, I don’t think there’s real magic here.”  
Dean tossed an amulet onto the counter. “Back to square one.”  
“No,” Dani shook her head “I talked to her…something was off. Keep looking there has to be something.”  
Dean looked over to Sam; Sam shrugged his shoulders and shined his flashlight into a corner of the shop.   
Dean took a deep breath, “Dani,-“  
“I found something!” Sam turned expectantly as Danielle stomped on the floor, “Hear that? She has a trap door behind the counter.” Danielle smirked at Dean.  
“Cover me.” Dean placed his flashlight between his teeth and yanked open the trap door.   
Dean raised his pistol as he started down the rickety stairs, “Sammy come on. Dani bring up the rear.”  
Danielle rolled her eyes but moved into step with her brothers. Behind the large form of her brother Danielle couldn’t see anything. Reaching the bottom of the stairs Danielle moved between the two as her light landed on a table covered in spell books, candles, bones and potions. Approaching it Danielle’s eyes wandered over the spell books as her brothers scanned the rest of the small cellar.   
“Nice work, Dani.” Sam gave her a soft pat.   
“Yeah now where’s the witch?” Dean wrinkled his nose at the table  
“Probably home.” Danielle stated “And I know the address.”  
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”   
“Wasn’t sure she was our witch. Now we know.”   
Dust rained down on them, as the floorboards from the shop above creaked, “Well look who’s back.” Dean glided to the stairs, as he was mounting them the door to the cellar slammed shut. “Son of a bitch!” Dean ran to the top shoving his shoulder into the door. Stumbling back after several attempts he looked at his sibling’s worried faces. He shouldn’t have let this happen. One of them should have kept watch.   
“Look for something we can use to get out of here.” Dean began to search the cellar.   
Danielle’s gasp of pain drew his attention next. Turning to her he saw blood darken the sleeve of her jacket just below a tear he could of sworn wasn’t there before.   
“Dani?”   
Danielle hissed as another slash made it’s way across her thigh.   
“Dani, what the hell?” Dean pulled her under his arm trying to protect her from the unseen force.  
A mix between a sob and small scream had Dean ready to tear something apart. Gasping Danielle tried to find her voice as blood poured from a puncture in her shoulder, “W-witch…She’s-“ Danielle fell against Dean as a deep gash appeared across her stomach. Lowering her to the ground Dean pulled Sam to the staircase. “We gotta kill the witch.”   
Both brothers slammed into the door. Sam felt some hope as it shuttered against their combined weight. Between attempts they could hear as Danielle gasped in pain. Sam grabbed Dean’s shirt when he couldn’t hear a sound coming from below. Sam nearly tripped over her as Danielle lay on the cold floor covered in blood clawing at her throat. Her mouth moved trying to gather any amount of air she could as her face twisted in pain.   
“Dean, she’s killing her!”  
Dean ran up the stairs with a fresh fury. As he reached the top his shoulder met the door sending it into splinters. The witch dropped a voodoo doll at her feet as he broke through the floor. Drawing a pistol with a white handle Dean unloaded his clip into the witch in front of him.

“She needs a hospital, Dean.” Sam cradled his sister in the backseat of the impala as Dean sped down the dark back road.   
“They’ll ask too many questions.” Dean glanced back at his sister’s unconscious form and couldn’t help but think she’d be more useful than him in this situation, “We’re almost to the motel…we’ll take care of her there.”  
“She’s lost a lot of blood…” Sam blinked rapidly as he met his brother’s gaze in the rearview mirror.  
“She’ll be okay. She’s tough.” Dean’s voice cracked.

 

Dean set her limp body on his bed; she felt so cold he fumbled for a pulse while Sam gather items for stitches. They cut away her jacket knowing as they did it she was going to be pissed it was ruined. Dean cussed as he revealed the deepest would across her thigh. Most of the other cuts were deep enough for stitches but meant to bleed out slowly; he wished he was lying there instead.  
Sam tied off the last stitch on his sister. Part of him was grateful she wasn’t conscious for the long process, but the other half wished she’s open her eyes so he could know if she’d be okay. Standing at the bathroom sink Sam scrubbed away her blood from his hands. The sharp smell of iron hit is nose as the warm water slowly washed away the stains. The brothers sat watching her lay on the bed as time slowly ticked away. Finally Sam collapsed on the other bed after Dean drifted off in a chair beside her. His hand rested in hers as his upper body rested on the edge of the bed next to her. After several hours Dean awoke with a start. Sam still slept in the other bed snoring softly as Danielle still lay paler than any ghost he’d ever seen.   
“Come on Dani wake up….I need you around okay? I admit it… I need your help watching out for Sammy….I need you watching out for me…I finally got you back and now you’re.” Dean’s hand glided through his short hair. “No. No you’re going to be okay. Sorry I’ve been so hard on you… you’re stronger than you think you are. We’ve all seen it and I guess I just want you to see it to. I know you could do this by yourself…but I don’t want to do this without you. While you were gone I missed knowing I had you right next to me if something happened…So it’s not because I think you can’t do it without me…it’s cause I can’t do it without you.”  
“Asshole.” Dean barely caught the whisper that escaped her lips.  
“Dani?”  
She grimaced as his excitement jostled the bed “De, it hurts” she rasped   
“I know…do you think you can swallow a pill?”  
She nodded slightly, her gray eyes full of pain.  
“Okay I’ve got you.” Dean scrambled to get a glass of water and some pain meds. After placing a couple pills in her mouth he eased his hand behind her neck to raise her head to a glass of water. Sipping slowly Danielle finished the glass.   
“I feel like I got drained of all the blood in my body and my neck wrung.” Her voice less hoarse from the water.  
Dean stared at the bruise around her neck as he brushed away hair from her forehead, “Well that kinda happened.”  
Her gray eyes began to flutter closed again. After a long pause Dean thought she was asleep until she whispered to him, “You need me?”  
Dean chewed his lip. It was one thing to say it while she was unconscious, another while she was awake, “We all need you. You’ve kept us sane over the years.”  
The corner of her mouth twitched, “But you need me.”   
Dean ducked his head, “Yeah, Dani…I need you.” he placed a kiss on her forehead.  
“I’m sorry.” She mumbled  
“Why?”  
“You’re not like Dad…I know you care.”  
Dean sighed heavily, “He loves you…Dad hardly knew what to do with me and Sammy…definitely never knew what to do with you.”  
Tears stung her eyes, “I always tried-“ her voice broke  
“Hey it’s okay settle down.” Dean soothed her softly; “You’ve always made Dad proud. Always made me proud too. I’ve been an ass lately… and I’m sorry…a lots happened.”  
“I’m not fine, Dean...I’m not.” Her lips trembled.  
“Danielle you don’t have to be. Sammy and I…we’re here for you. I know it won’t be easy…but you’ll heal. And I don’t expect you to be fine on my timeline…you take what you need and know I’m here.”  
Wincing Danielle wrapped her arms around his neck, “Thank you.” she stated softly, “And Dean?”  
“Mmm?”  
“I’ll wear socks when I share the bed with you.”  
Dean chuckled wearily, “You can borrow the sweatpants you like. That way you can tuck your feet into the pant legs and won’t have to worry about socks.”   
“You’ll never get them back.”  
“I know.” Danielle squeezed her brother tighter.


End file.
